Attention bat detectives: State needs help figuring out killer fungus

Friday

State wildlife officials are hoping "citizen science" will help them unravel how and why a fungal disease is killing hundreds of thousands of bats.

State wildlife officials are hoping "citizen science" will help them unravel how and why a fungal disease is killing hundreds of thousands of bats.

The state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife is asking residents who find colonies of 10 or more bats in attics, barns, abandoned buildings, church steeples or other structures to report them to state biologists.

Scientists will use the information in a database to further their study of white-nose syndrome, in which fungus accumulates on bat noses, faces and wings.

First discovered in 2006 in upstate New York, the disease has spread throughout eight other northeastern states, with probable cases discovered in MetroWest for the first time last spring. Experts estimate the syndrome has killed more than 1 million bats, wiping out entire colonies.

"It's pretty depressing and pretty dramatic," said Tom French, assistant director of the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, or MassWildlife.

Some species of bats use buildings to roost in during the summer. Monitoring summer colonies, as well as bat mortalities, can help biologists track how populations are faring from year to year, state officials said.

People don't need any background or previous interest in science to help, French said. The public plays a vital part in helping biologists monitor birds and other animals and invasive plants, he said.

"This is a great example of collaboration between the public and scientists," French said.

Two bat species most often roost in buildings - big brown bats and less frequently, little brown bats, French said. The latter more often roost in caves and are among the most affected by white-nose syndrome.

Big brown bats, however, appear to be less harmed, perhaps because they have some resistance or because they live in smaller colonies, said Tom Kunz, a Boston University biology professor and director of the Center for Ecology and Conservation Biology.

MassWildlife wants to confirm if big brown bats and colonies that roost in dry buildings are faring better. Ultimately, the agency wants to see if bats develop resistance and can recover from the disease.

The fungus is largely spreading in caves and old mines.

In a chamber of an abandoned mine in Chester, French said biologists counted about 10,000 bats last March. By the end of April, only 44 were left, and all had white fungus on their faces.

Scientists have seen similar losses in other cave colonies, and the bat population takes a long time to rebound - bats usually produce only one pup a year.

"I think we're going to see a virtual disappearance of our cave- and mine-roosting bats," French said.

Kunz, who is studying white-nose, said he hopes to collaborate with MassWildlife, using the data that the public reports in his research.

"What I think he's got is really a great thing," he said of French.

Kunz and French were part of an expedition in an abandoned underground aqueduct that runs beneath Framingham, Natick and Wellesley, among other towns. They found dead bats and bats with fungus-covered faces there in late March.

While they are still awaiting lab results, French said he has little doubt the colony suffered from white-nose syndrome.

An estimated 50,000 bats that live within Rte. 128 alone consume about 14 to 15 tons of insects each summer, including those that feed on or damage crops and gardens or mosquitoes that carry diseases, MassWildlife said.

"They're the hidden secrets of our ecosystem," Kunz said.

Kunz said funding for research is far too scarce and relies in part on private donations. It appears the fungus is spreading 200 kilometers a year.

"It's very likely this next year it's going to spread into the Midwest," he said.